Made From A Masquerade
by Maeve Epans
Summary: This subject came easy to me and if Malfoy screwed up my grade due to his damned laziness in anything Snape taught, then I would be one witch on a run with my first kill under my wand and Malfoy would cut his life full of money short and quickly. [Draco/OC]
1. The Introduction

A/N: Hello, everyone! To everyone who follows me on , this story is already being published there since I started to post it there first. There will be no difference between that copy and this one. I just wanted to place this one here as well for everyone who isn't on HPFF to be able to read. To everyone who was reading my other story "Walking Her Down," I am currently trying to find that final chapter. If I can not find it soon, I will just rewrite it and type it up! As for this new story, I have been writing this since 2006-2007, so you can bet that I have been working to make this story as best as I possibly can. The main pairing will be Draco/OC and the secondary pairing will be Ron/OC. I might post a side along for Ron/OC to be the main pairing in, but I haven't decided yet. I have already written a side along for this story for the future chapters in Draco's POV, but I'm obviously not going to post it until the time comes so I do no ruin future events!

ENJOY!

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Everyone has a secret. Dark or not, whether they admit to it or hide it in the shadows from others. They can hide their secret as well as they want from others, but never from themselves. Especially if that secret that no one else could possibly find out was the complete truth of who you truly are.

It was a dark clear night and the stars lit the sky magnificently. The old manor was surrounded by a forest, yet it was far enough away from the trees that anyone could tell the field the house sat on was filled with flowers. Roses, lilies of different kinds, and many more filled the gardens and vines climbed the stone manor. The dark beauty of the place was also lit up by the candles inside, the light shining out of the windows. Music was playing loudly, a crowd of happily dancing people were gathered inside, sharing laughter and memories.

In a darkly lit room on the third floor, two girls stood alone. The room was bare aside from a desk and the chair that sat behind it, along with the few dark artifacts and skulls hanging off the maroon walls. The fireplace was the only light in the room, giving enough light to show off the girls' different features. While one was a tan skinned brunette with even darker eyes, the other was pale skinned blonde with grey eyes. The blonde was impatiently glancing out the window while the brunette stared into the burning embers.

"Where is he? It's not like him to be late." the blonde stated, merely above a whisper.

"Be calm, Amity. He'll show. He was probably held up at a meeting."

The blonde, Amity, glared over to the brunette and took in the older girl. She always seemed so calm, as if nothing could bother her. Amity couldn't stand to be that way all the time. This was one of those times in which she wouldn't be calm much longer. The man they were waiting for had given them the time to come here and he was the one late? The man had never been late before. Why was he late tonight? Tonight was important and he wasn't on time. She focused her eyes out the window again.

Minutes passed before Amity was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of a door scraping against the wood floor. Taking her gaze away from the landscape, she studied the man closing the door behind himself. Dark suit, pale skin, a smile playing across his face. At one point in time, this man scared her, but now, she was used to everything he was and it did nothing to her.

"My two favorite girls." came the quiet, but commanding voice. "My apologies for my tardiness. Punishment was needed. To what do I owe such a pleasant visit from the two of you and such a full house?" The man had stealthily made his way behind the desk and sat down. Had he not been speaking, neither girls would have noticed his movements.

Amity was the first to speak. "Sir, we wish to help you in your endeavor. We have developed a plan that has already been put into motion. One that cannot and will not fail." Amity walked around the front of the desk and smirked at the man. "With that fool of a man Dumbledore trusting us, this cannot go wrong in any way."

The man smirked coldly back at the blonde. "Please do explain. I am willing to place my trust in you two. Please, sit." With a wave of his hand, two dark artifacts flew off the wall and transfigured into chairs for both girls.

Both girls sat as Amity began to explain. "As you could tell as you entered the manor, there is a ball in progress. A masquerade in a form of celebration of the holiday. No better time than Halloween to host a masquerade to lure people from the safety of Hogwarts. Students of all bloods have shown up, as it was needed in order for him to show. We will find him and have him fall for one of us. Now, it won't be able to happen in just a single night, but-"

"How do you expect to find him when masks are already being worn?" interrupted the man, seeing a flaw in the girls' plan already.

But Amity had thought of that and her smirk just grew. Without faltering, Amity replied, "Word has already gotten to me what he and his group of friends will be wearing and that they will be in attendance tonight. In addition to that, no one in the school knows that Lilith and I are friends, which make this even easier than one could hope for. He'll never see it coming."

"Amity, you are a clever and bright young witch. Much more so than that filthy mudblood. I take pride in this plan of yours." The man said approvingly.

"Perhaps some mudbloods and half-bloods will disappear tonight. Accidentally, of course." Lilith added, morbidly, a smirk gracing her face now.

"What kind of ball would it be if no one disappeared, Lilith?" Amity agreed with the brunette's suggestion. "Slowly, but surely, some will leave, never to be seen again."

The man smiled, as if he were proud of Amity for developing such an evil scheme to please him. She was the brains of the two the majority of the time. He had nothing to fear with her concocting devilish plans with no flaws. That smile showed his trust in the girl.

I loved that smile. It meant I did him well. It meant he was pleased with this new development in his life that I have set before him. It meant he was proud of me.

Me. Amity Woodrow.


	2. The Morning

A/N: So, I noticed in my A/N section from my last chapter that I obviously didn't check to see if I had spelled everything correctly and for that, I apologize.

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Earlier that morning, I had been sitting at the Slytherin table eating breakfast, awaiting classes to begin. Being Friday, it meant I only had to endure two classes; Defense Against the Dark Arts being taught by Snape with the Gryffindors and History of Magic with the boring and only ghost professor at Hogwarts. My Fridays were easy compared to the rest of my week. The other days I could have as many as nine classes. If Professor Snape was impressed by how many courses I was taking my final year at Hogwarts, he didn't show it. Not that I expected him to.

I was glad that today was Friday. I would have time to get to Dumbledore's office in between my courses to talk to the headmaster. Of course, it was only seven in the morning, I had an hour before my Defense would start and Dumbledore was right in the room at the professor and staff table. There weren't many of us students in there just yet, it was far too early for some, so I could get to Dumbledore and ask to see him now, it would be far easier that way, I supposed. I wouldn't be rushed in between classes.

Upon deciding that, I stood up and gracefully walked over to where the only two professors who were up this early were. Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall paused their conversation and looked at me. Professor McGonagall seemed to about scold me for being at the head table, but Dumbledore held up a hand to silence her before she began, a smile playing on his face.

"To what do we owe the pleasure of your presence, Miss Woodrow?" came the gentle voice of the blue eyed man.

I was returning his smile in the sweetest possible way. "May I have an audience with you, sir, in your office before Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

His eyes were sparkling and I knew he wouldn't be able to say no to me. "Of course. I was just about to leave and would love such wonderful company on the way to my office." Slowly standing, he bid Professor McGonagall a good day and walked around the table to meet me. "Follow me, Miss Woodrow." The smile never left the old headmaster's face as he turned and led me out of the Great Hall. He walked me down the corridors in a silence, all the way to his office. Dumbledore looked at me as we got to the gargoyle that I knew led to his office. "I am quite fond of acid pops now. Would you like to lead the way, Miss Woodrow? After all, you are the one who initiated this meeting."

His smile was unfaltering. A bit unnerving to me, but I quickly shook that off and said, "Acid pops," in the direction of the gargoyle. I expected Dumbledore to head up the newly revealed staircase first, but he ushered me to go first. I took a step forward and started my way up the stairs, opening his office doors when I reached them.

He seemed to float on by me and took a seat behind his desk, still smiling. "Now, what would you like to speak of? It is not very often that I receive a guest from the Slytherin house. I take it as an honor when one approaches me to speak." His eyes twinkled as he spoke that.

I knew not a lot of us came to him. The Slytherins all knew the headmaster had once been a Gryffindor. Why would a snake go to a lion for advice? For anything, really? Except for what I had to do.

"Well, sir," I started. "I am here to propose an idea to celebrate the holiday."

"Ah, yes," he interrupted, kindly. "It is Halloween. Quite a fascinating holiday, it is."

I guess it was. I never thought of it as interesting before. Really, it was just a holiday the muggles had invented to dress up and go around parading as something they aren't to get candy from strangers. What an odd holiday, really. "I was wanting to suggest a masquerade for this evening. Just for the older years."

I stopped to see how he was taking this so far. He was still smiling and twinkling. "Yes. Those pesky younger children need sleep." he joked.

I decided to continue since he was taking it well. Hopefully it continued. "In order to ensure that a younger student doesn't try to show up, I was wanting to host it at my family's manor. It is a weekend night. No one has-"

"I agree." came the interrupted response. I had a list of reasons prepared to try and convince him to say yes, but I hadn't needed them. He agreed with the same twinkle in his blue eyes and never ending smile on his face. I studied the man before me, the one in charge of all our educations. What kind of man could trust what a seventeen year old girl had to say without any questions or explanations?

"Now, Miss Woodrow," Dumbledore pulled me out of my thoughts. "I believe an announcement is in order. Would you like to take care of that?"

I was a bit shocked, and just nodded my head. I didn't expect it to be this easy.

"That is just wonderful! Now, I believe your class starts soon. Don't want to be late for Professor Snape." He waved his hand and the office doors opened behind me. As I was walking out, I heard him say, "Do have fun tonight, Miss Woodrow. Being young is such a joy. No one should take it away from you."

As I walked to Defense, I was greatly confused by the old headmaster's last words to me. It seemed as if he knew something more, but there was no way. There were only two of us who knew why this masquerade was planned, and I knew the second person wouldn't tell a soul. I also knew I hadn't opened my mouth to anyone. It must've been my imagination then. He couldn't know anything.

Before I realized it, I was sitting at the front desk in Snape's classroom. I looked around the room and pulled out my parchment and book. I was the first one in the dark class, like normal. The candles that were lit were a bright contrast to the dark surrounding them, barely lighting the pages in my book. I liked the quiet of a classroom before it was filled with my noisy peers. Some of them I just couldn't stand because of their loudness. Take the mudblood Granger for example. She never did shut up when a question was asked. She argued a lot and disrupted the peace of the classroom. She truly thought she knew it all and it was bloody annoying. Sadly, she was in most of my classes and I had to deal with her.

My quill and inkwell were ready for the class to begin, which should be any moment. It was nearly the same thing every day. The door would open and bang on the stone wall behind it due to the overflow of students getting here at the last minute, then Snape would follow a few moments after the last student. The silence wouldn't last longer, I know.

Sure enough, the door hit the wall and the Gryffindors slid into the classroom, talking quite loudly, followed by the rest of my house, who were either snickering at the Gryffindors or sneering at them for having to deal with them for an entire hour. I faced the front of the class, quill already dipped and in my hand, awaiting for Professor Snape to start teaching as I heard the billowing of his robes behind him swooshing down the aisle beside me.

This was the second year he was teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts and, to be honest, quite a few of us students were surprised he was still here. After all, remembering our first five teachers and their less than one year reign over the position, there was a stupid rumor stating that the position of Defense professor was cursed. Obviously not. We just had incompetent professors before Snape took over. Albeit, it was still odd not seeing potions around him as he taught.

"Open your textbooks to page six hundred and twenty-three. You will be reading on Inferi and adding to your knowledge pertaining to them that you should have learned last year, had any of you been paying attention." He sent a glare towards the Gryffindors, earning a snickering from my left. When Snape started to teach, I failed to notice who sat down beside me. Turning my head to the left, I immediately turned around.

It was Draco Malfoy. The bane of my very existence. Alright, so maybe that was a bit stretched. Not the actual reason; that was saved for one person. A person not even in this school. Still, Malfoy was a pain. Yes, Granger was annoying because of her know it all personality, but Malfoy was nearly just as bad. He thought he was a god or something and he was insufferable for it. Sure, he is good looking, I won't deny that, but his personality is that of a dragon dun and that was enough to turn me away and not fall for him, like every other female swooning over his smirk. I was actually quite disgusted by my own gender for that.

"Be prepared. Next week you will be starting a project that will last until Christmas break." Upon this, my attention went back to Snape. A project? Good. A project meant less homework from Snape, not that that meant much, but it was something. "You will be working with a partner." Okay. I'm sure Dilred wouldn't mind working with me. It was the only thing that the whole school of Hogwarts thought we were; just project partners. I don't normally like partner projects, but she made it durable. "Your partner will be the person sitting beside you at your desk." …What? I turned my head back to look at Malfoy.

He was smirking at me.


	3. The Dress

I wasn't a fan of how today was going. It started off great, with the meeting with Dumbledore going flawlessly, as planned, but Defense Against the Dark Arts brought my mood down to a new low. I was trying to busy myself during the hour period I had before History of Magic would start. I had already found Lilith and discussed how the meeting went to her. She was pleased with how it had gone, just how I had been. But she couldn't help but to ask about Malfoy and Defense while we were posting the parchments around the corridors and courtyards of Hogwarts.

"How are you feeling about being partnered with Malfoy, or do I need to ask?" she questioned quietly, so no other students walking by could overhear our conversation.

I held back a sigh and hid my disappointment with the fact that I could not get the old Potions master's decision out of my head with her questioning. "I'm not pleased with it in the slightest." was my monotone response.

She nodded, her brunette hair falling from behind her ears. "I understand. I'll see what I can do."

I didn't say anything to that, just stuck another parchment for the masquerade up next to the charms classroom. Lilith and I had come to an agreement earlier in our Hogwarts years and to this day we're still upholding it. Lilith was more accepted by the popular Slytherins were as I was just tolerated by many of them. I wasn't one for being the center of a huge crowd's attention, whereas Lilith loved the spotlight. We needed to act as if we didn't know each other outside of Hogwarts and to be in two separate groups seemed the best way to not let anyone find out our secret. It didn't bother me at all to associate with the few people I call my friends; Daphne Greengrass, Blaise Zabini, Tracey Davis, and secretly, Lilith Dilred. Now, Lilith, being in the popular group, was friends with nearly everyone, or put up a front about being their friend. When she said she'd see what she could do, she meant she'd tell Malfoy to back off or switch partners with her.

We finished placing the posters up in silence before we went our separate ways. I was sitting in History of Magic a few minutes before the door opened for the final time, allowing the only other student to walk in and sit behind me.

I thanked Merlin that Malfoy hadn't sat in the seat beside me.

Through the entire class, I managed to pay attention to Professor Binns and ignore the boy behind me. I was glad he didn't try talking to me. I had half expected Malfoy to try to start something, but he didn't. I didn't give him any time to make the attempt once the ghostly professor had released us. I quickly grabbed all of my books and took out the door quickly, wanting to get to Hogsmeade as quickly as possible.

I needed to head to Gladrags to purchase a dress for tonight's masquerade. I didn't want to get caught up in the mess of hectic females trying to get dresses and jewelry due to the last minute announcement, not that I could've helped that. We had needed to wait until the day of to ask Dumbledore; no need to get anyone suspicious as to why a ball was being held off Hogwarts grounds and had we announced it sooner, more people would've been questioning that, whereas now everyone was happy and enjoying the fact they get to enjoy a night out.

Lilith had a dress all picked out at the manor, awaiting for her to arrive in the next couple of hours. She had dresses upon dresses and gowns upon gowns in her arsenal between her home and Hogwarts. Quite the opposite, I had very few dresses between my home and the girls' dormitory. I rarely dressed up, mainly staying in the uniform required to attend classes.

At first, I had wanted to bring her along, but that would risk us being seen together more than we needed to be seen today. Putting up the announcements was risky enough, we were lucky that no Slytherins we knew had seen us. Going to Hogsmeade together, to the busiest shop, that would be giving up all of our hard work over the years. So, I was going alone, sooner than Daphne or Tracey would be, seeing as they would be at lunch about now and probably had dresses already like Lilith. I needed to get to the manor soon, to prepare and decorate it.

I had made my way down to the carriages pulled by thestrals to head towards Hogsmeade. I knew the carriages were being pulled by the beasts instead of being pulled by themselves because I could see them. It was something I didn't care to think about as to why I could see them while Lilith and nearly the rest of the school couldn't. It was a memory that I had trained to be placed in the back on my mind, rarely being replayed.

The little village was quiet, filled with the handful of students who had already received the message of the masquerade and were old enough to fit the requirements to attend. As I had thought, Gladrags was the most frequented at the moment, though no nearly as many students was in there now as there would be in just a few short hours. I quickly walked in to the shop and went straight to the dresses.

The racks were full. I didn't know where to start, what color to look for, or anything. What should I look like tonight? I had my mask all prepared. It was a mixture of green and silver, my house colors which were also my favorite colors. I supposed green would be a good place to start.

I wasn't a great shopper. Normally I just picked something that I thought was pretty and went on my way. I wasn't a girly girl. Sure, I liked looking nice, but I didn't put much effort into it, nor did I want to. But tonight had to be an exception for the plan to work perfectly.

I picked up a dark green, floor length dress and looked at it. It was pretty, but the green was far darker than the green in my mask. Would that work? Probably not. Placing the dress back, I looked through the other green dresses and gowns, ranging from floor length to showing too much skin short. I refused to look like a slut at any time, even if a mask was to be worn and no one would know it was me. Lilith felt fine wearing short length dresses and skirts, but I couldn't do that. I didn't want people seeing that. Despite who I am, I do have a lot of dignity and was not willing to lose that.

When I didn't find a dress that I thought could work with my mask, I headed towards the white dresses. They would surely work with the silver and green. Perhaps a white dress that had a few sparkles in it. That sounded absolutely stunning, if the store had a dress that I liked. I didn't think they would.

So, I was surprised when my eyes spotted a beautiful white dress that looked like it would end around my knees. When I pulled it off the rack, it sparkled with the glittering charm that had been placed on the fabric. It sparkled just enough to catch the eye, but not enough to ruin the beauty of the fabric. I placed it against my body, knowing I had no time to try it on at the shop, to see if it would be a good fit. It seemed to melt against my small frame. I loved it, which was different for me.

In the midst of my admiring the dress, I failed to notice I was being watched until a voice came from behind me. "White makes you look becoming."

I cringed inwardly, turning around to face the owner of the voice. "What do you want, Malfoy?" I knew I couldn't avoid him the rest of the year, but I was hoping to have avoided him the rest of the day. Unfortunately, it seemed as if that would not be the case.

All he did was smirk and say, "I'm here to find a suit for the masquerade ball tonight. Obviously you've heard there was one."

I rolled my eyes. No one knew that it was me, which was good. "Of course. There are notices all around Hogwarts." I turned around to start heading towards the cashier in the front of the store while no one else was up there, hoping to leave Malfoy behind.

Sadly, he followed. "Going stag? Shame that such a beauty will be without an escort. Then again, with your attitude, I would've felt the need to put the poor man out of his misery." I ignored him and handed the dress over to the store owner, wanting to pay and leave quickly. Malfoy continued, much to my dismay. "You should learn to respond when someone is speaking to you."

That got me. I turned around to him angrily. "I am not required to speak with you outside of our new and most unwelcomed partnership in Defense. Other than that I refuse to speak to such an ignorant, incompetent asshole such as yourself." I handed the galleons and sickles over to the owner and took the bagged dress back into my hands.

When I turned for the door, I was expecting some retort from the blonde headed fool, but he allowed me to walk out without him following or interrupting my flow out the door. I was glad for that, at least. Now I needed to head back to Hogwarts so that I may Floo from the headmaster's office to the manor to get ready. Looking at the bag in my hands, I sighed to myself. I hate to admit it, but he was right. White really did make me look becoming.

Damn Malfoy.


	4. The Preparation

_"Open your eyes!"_

_It was dark. No light anywhere. That's the only way I could describe what was around me. My eyes were wide open, but there was not a single trace of light anywhere. I couldn't see anything._

_"Open your eyes."_

_What are you talking about?! My eyes are open! What's going on?_

_I tried to open my mouth to speak to whoever was around me, but I only found out that my lips wouldn't part and that my throat wasn't producing any sounds whatsoever. My eyes skimmed to see what was around me, but once again, all I saw was darkness. Maybe my eyes weren't open…._

_"Please open your eyes."_

_What was so familiar about that voice?_

_"Give it up… She's not waking up!"_

_Another voice? I tried to move, but my body wouldn't listen to my brain's commands. Merlin! What was going on?!_

_"…shut up! She'll wake up!"_

_Why shout? What was too loud, whoever you are._

_Suddenly, there was some sort snapping after someone murmured a spell I couldn't make out. What was happening? The voices were talking, but nothing I could make out. This was infuriating. A new voice came back into focus first a few minutes later._

_"Give it up… We have to leave her here!"_

_That voice said a name…but who's? Say it again! Clearer!_

_"No… I will not leave her here! I'll die first."_

_Another name… Why couldn't I hear all of their conversation? I'm so confused. This isn't normal. I'm never confused. What was going on?_

_"Come on! He's coming! We have to get out of here! Just leave the body!"_

_"Never!"_

_Body?_

I shot up into a sitting position. I heard someone gasping for air, only to realize that I was the one gasping for the precious element to fill my lungs. There was a thumping as well, but by placing one of my hands to my chest I found out that I was producing that sound, too. My heart was racing. Cold sweat dripped from my pale skin, glistening in the afternoon sun, peaking through the curtains.

I could remember the dream, barely. Pieces were missing, but I do recall that I had had that dream before this afternoon's occurrence. I thought all my nightmares were gone. For many years, I hadn't dreamed at all, due to clearing my mind so that I didn't have to worry about dreaming. Before taking my nap, I had cleared my mind of all thoughts, though, and I know my Legilimency was strong during the enough to ward off any unwanted people invading during the night. So, what had happened? What went wrong?

I shook it off and slipped my body out of my blanket, watching the silken material slowly slide down my legs and pool into an emerald mound on the floor at my feet as I stood. Walking to my restroom, I stripped, preparing for a cold shower to wash the sweat produced from the dream. Being sure I was clean of any sweat, I wet my hair, washing it thoroughly, before stepping back out. I looked in the mirror to check my appearance. There were tiny bags under my eyes and I sighed as I picked up my wand. Pointing the tip at the bags, I muttered a spell to cause them to disappear. There were wards placed up around this manor so the ministry didn't know when underage magic was used. That was good for the summer and occasions such as this.

Drying my hair with my wand, I tried to envision what would be the prettiest hair style to go with my dress. I decided to go with an up do with a few curled strands hanging loose framing my face. Waving my wand, I made that happen and smiled. It was great. I accioed my dress into the bathroom and pulled it out of the bag to hold it up to my body. The dress was gorgeous. The white didn't blend with my pale skin, it accentuated the pink of it. The glittering material was breathtakingly beautiful. I stepped into the dress and reached around to zip it up.

I looked into the mirror at my blue eyes and decided to change them with a spell we had just learned in Transfiguration class. My bright blue eyes turned brown with green specks sparkling around the irises. During this little make over, I found myself forgetting the dream as easily as it had come to me. "Now, make up." I said to myself. Waving my wand one last time, I watched as my lips turned a dark red and my eyes were thickly surrounded with eyeliner with a shadowy eye powder.

Walking out of the bathroom and into my bedroom, I went to my closet and pulled out my silver ballet flats and mask. I put my ballet flats on, not wanting to wear heels tonight, but kept the mask in my hand, not wanting to put it on so soon. The masquerade wouldn't start for another few hours, so there was no point in wearing a mask around the empty manor.

Keeping the mask in my hands and hiding my wand in my leg holster under my dress, I walked out of my room. I started down the spiral staircase when a familiar female voice spoke to me.

"Hello, darling."

I stopped walking down the steps and looked over to the portrait on hanging on the wall. "Hello, Mum."

The beautiful woman smiled her beaming smile at me. I missed that smile when I was at school. Every day I wished I could see that smile in person, not just from a portrait, but things happen. "My beautiful baby girl. Oh, Amity, that dress looks absolutely stunning on you." Before I could respond, she gasped and pointed at me. "Your eyes! They're brown now. Why, darling?"

I looked away from her. "Mum, you know what is going on tonight. I needed to change something so no one could recognize me as easily or at all."

Without looking at the portrait, I knew she was disappointed. Her voice held it all. "Amity Clover, you know you don't have to go through with this. You are still a child. You're not even seventeen yet."

"You know I have no choice."

"You have other options, my love. You both do."

I could only smile sadly. I couldn't bring myself to look at her. "No. We don't."

A disappointed sigh came from the portrait of my deceased mother. "I will always love you, my child."

I lost my voice. All I could do at that point was nod and continue down the stairs. I felt a tear slip out of my eye and I quickly wiped it away. I hated knowing I was disappointing her. She gave her life to save mine and this is how I was repaying her. Yet she knew I had no choice in the cards I was dealt with from birth, so I had no choice in the destination of my fate. If I didn't do this, I would end up with my mother and I wasn't going to have her death mean nothing. At least I was living doing what I needed to do and what I was told to do.

Entering the ballroom where the masquerade would be held, I glanced around at the bareness of that large room. Taking my wand out of its holster, I looked around the white room and started waving my wand. The tables started to float to different spots along the walls to create a dance floor in the center of the room. One of the walls was left empty for a few moments before a few tables transfigured into a large stage for the Weird Sisters to perform. Looking around and being satisfied with the layout of the ballroom now, I gave my wand another flourish and black cloths started covering the tabletops with green embroideries. Black stemmed orange roses began to adorn clear vases on the tables and the walls and the roses began dripping blood for the effect of tonight's holiday. The blood was charmed to pool only slightly and not be sticky or wet, so no one were to slip on the floor. The chandeliers' usually white candles turned black and had a mixture of red and yellow flames sparking up from each one. A long table aside one wall began to fill up with treats and drinks, jack-o-lanterns adorning every few feet. I smirked at my design. The final thing to do was change the white walls black and I would be done. So, with a final flick of my wand, I made it happen.

Grabbing my mask of the nearby table, I walked outside to the gardens, keeping the doors to the hallway and the doors to the garden open completely. I heard a single person clapping and chuckled to myself. "Like it, Lilith?"

The usually dark haired beauty was now nearly as blonde as I was. She walked to my side and glanced towards the setting sun. "I do." After a few minutes of silence, Lilith broke it once more. "Are you ready?"

I was ready, but a small part of me was nervous. If we failed tonight, neither of us would survive. I hardly think he would appreciate failure, even if we were his favorites and never failed him before. There was no room for error tonight. Keeping a sigh held in, I answered with more confidence than I thought possible.

"Of course."


	5. The Masquerade -Part One

The time for the masquerade was quickly approaching. The stars were coming out and people were starting to arrive. The band had shown up and were still setting up as the first guests arrived, but were completely done by the grandfather clocked struck ten, the start of the ball. Lilith and I had yet to make an appearance, needing to sneak out and enter through the main doors so no one figured out that this manor belonged to my family and she was a part of the planning. We needed everything to go perfectly tonight and for that to happen, no one could find out that we were doing this.

Lilith waited outside by the main doors for her friends to show up as I waited near the edge of the forest to not draw attention to myself and watch who showed up. After Lilith had walked in, I noticed a small group of three without masks on just yet and smirked to myself. They were really making this too easy. The one to focus on had a nice suit on with a matching mask in his hands whereas the other boy in the group wore a matching suit but the mask did not match. The girl seemed to clean up nicely, but I did not care for her tonight. The completely matching boy was my sole target for this mission. I will succeed because failure is not an option.

I watched as they placed their masks over their faces and walked in. Taking this as my cue, I made sure my mask was on securely and made my way over to the entrance. As I walked in, I took notice of quite a few students admiring my handy work with the decorations. I smiled as I listened to their compliments of "What a beautiful chandelier" and "These colors are absolutely beautiful" among others. I followed the crowd into the main ballroom. Earlier I had made sure enchantments were placed so no one wandered away from the main ballroom and gardens without my or Lilith's permission, which we weren't giving to anyone.

Music flowed out of the ballroom and into the hallway as we entered. Pushing myself through the throng of people, I made my way to an empty table in the corner. There were people eating and dancing and drinking, and the room was full already of nearly every student of the appropriate age. I was pleased with how this was going already and the night was nowhere near done.

I kept an eye on the clock while watching everyone. He was going to appear here at eleven in his office and if we were late, he would not be happy. He didn't know what was going on here just yet though he knew about us wanting to meet him.

Suddenly a tap was on my shoulder, breaking me from my thoughts. I whipped my head around to stare at the culprit. He had dark hair and his suit matched his mask. It was the one I was to be watching tonight. Why was he over here? Though, I was not complaining. This was making my job a little easier. "Yes?" I inquired why he was here in that single word with a small smile.

He returned the smile with a brilliant one of his one. "Why is a pretty girl sitting alone in a room full of crowded people?" His voice sounded a little cracked, but with the band playing so loud, he must've been yelling over them to be able to talk to his friends, so it was only to be expected.

Quirking my head to the side slightly, I shrugged. "I didn't come with anyone."

"How terrible. My friends are too busy dancing and I'm already getting tired of them stepping on my feet. May I sit with you?" He walked around and pointed to the chair right beside me.

I nodded. "It's all yours."

"Thank you." He said, taking his seat and facing it slightly to me before sitting down. "Why are you not dancing, aside from not having anyone because that's not a good enough excuse?"

I laughed a little at that. He was truly making this too easy for me. "It's far too early in the night to be dancing yet. I don't want to get tired before the night's end."

It was his turn to chuckle. "You're right. How about a drink?" He stood back up with a grin and walked towards the drink station. I watched him, smirking to myself. He didn't know what he was walking into. He was playing right into my hands. His black hair was still a mess just like in school. As if he didn't even try to dress himself up aside from the suit, but I could detect some gel from the slight shine the candlelight emitted over his head. I watched how he walked as he came back over. He had almost a strut to his walk as if he was proud he was talking to a girl. Then again, with his history, he probably was happy nothing was going wrong. I almost felt bad for this set up. Almost.

When he got back, he passed me a glass of pumpkin juice and kept one for himself. He looked at me as he took a sip and asked, "Would you care to dance with me tonight?"

Before I could stop myself, I answered, "I would love to." In all honesty, I would enjoy that. The last dance I had was at the Yule Ball with Fred Weasley and it was fun. I didn't mind the twins at all since they were some of my only true friends. It was a shame they left last year, but I was actually proud of them for pursuing their dreams of owning their own shop. I did visit them before the school year started to check it out.

The boy smiled even brighter. "Great. I'll hold that to you. Now, how about I get to know the girl behind the mask. I have a guesses of who you are, but I would like to know your name. You know, so we can talk when we get back to Hogwarts."

Talk about trying too hard. I laughed to myself in my head, but kept a smile on my face. "Then that would ruin the entire purpose of the masks, won't it?"

He sighed, but kept a smile. "I guess you are correct. I will figure it out, trust me."

Oh, you will, but you won't like it. I glanced at the clock and I saw I only had ten minutes to get up to the office. Drinking the pumpkin juice, I stood up and looked at the boy. "Please excuse me. I'll be right back."

Without waiting for an answer, I walked out of the ballroom and started to head up the stairs, checking every few moments to make sure no one had seen me walk towards the staircase. Once I got to the top of the stairs and halfway down the hallway to the office, I heard a clicking of heels meeting the tile floor. Without glancing back, I called out, "He'll be here soon," taking off my mask and holding it in my hand.

"I realized once I saw you walk out. Don't worry, none of them followed me. They think I'm in the powder room reapplying make up," was Lilith's response. Good. We didn't need anyone around the staircase when we go back down.

Coming upon the door, I pushed it open. I half expected him to be here already, but the dark room was void of anything aside from us and the furniture. He'll be here. The night was going amazingly already.

He'll show.


	6. The Masquerade -Part Two

A/N: I just posted this into validation on my HPFF account, so you all are getting it first! The song is called "Curse of Curves" by Cute is What We Aim For. It is not owned by me nor do I make money off of this. This chapter is a bit off, but I tried revising it to make it flow smoother without completely boring you all. (: R/R!

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"Do not fail me."

Those words played through my head as Lilith and I made our way back to the ballroom. He wanted this done as much as we wanted it done. His voice echoed through my mind and I could see that Lilith was thinking of the same thing due to a shiver that ran through her body visibly. My body would have cringed, too, at the thought of failing, but I was great at hiding any fears from people, a trait I was proud to have.

In the corner of my eye, I could tell the brunette wanted to say something, but she couldn't form the words out of her mouth, so she just remained silent, as did I. I didn't feel the need to speak of anything with her now. It was clear what needed to be focused on and it would happen. No one needed to speak, the objective was clear.

He kept us a little longer after I had explained what we were doing. I did not divulge that I was already speaking to the one the man wanted gone. It would happen and I would lead him to the end when the time deemed right. The man we just left gave us a deadline of April, the week of Easter holiday. Since it was only the end of October, that meant we had a mere six months to get this plan completed. That seemed to be enough time if everything kept going as smoothly as it was already.

In a silent agreement, I walked in before Lilith, still needing to make sure that no one suspected anything. I had tied on my mask right before entering the ballroom and was just making sure my hair was out of the strings when a familiar voice came into my ears.

"I believe I was promised a dance." I looked towards the owner of the voice on my right and gave him a smile. The one our plan was circled around, perfect. He was half way bowed with one of his arms behind him and one in front of him, extended.

I looked at his hand, held out for me. "Of course." I took his offered hand as he straightened up and led me to the dance floor. The Weird Sisters were in the middle of one of their upbeat songs, so he held on to me and started to dance to the beat.

His eyes were trained on me as he spoke to me over the music. "You were gone an awful long time in the loo, I was almost tempted to send some of my female friends to go make sure you hadn't fallen in."

I smirked and gave a light hearted chuckle at that. He had noticed how long I was gone, cute. "I'm not that stupid. I was just - "

"Don't say you were powdering your nose. You look the same and you don't look to have any new make up on you." He grinned.

Well, I'll give it to him. He was very perspective. A little more than I thought he was. He kept silent for the rest of the song, as well as the next few. We were just dancing until he politely excused himself and walked up to the stage. He whispered something to the lead and grabbed the microphone as the guests watched him walk back to me. He bent over to my ear and whispered, "Let's really turn this into a party."

I watched as a crowd circled around us, mainly him, as he backed away to the other side of the circle. Glancing into the crowd, I noticed Lilith giving me a slight look. She was wondering what was happening and the only response I could give her was a quick smirk to which she gave me a confused look. Well, I'll have to talk to her about that later.

All of a sudden, the band began to play and the boy in front of me started to sing. "_I've got the gift of one liners and you've got the curse of curves_." His eyes held a look I couldn't place. Almost as if he had a secret that he wasn't going to tell. Without showing anything or giving anything away, I wondered what had changed in him suddenly and if I should be worried.

"_I want someone provocative and talkative_," he continued to sing and once the second verse started, he started to dance towards me slowly, but still to beat. He gently pulled me into the center of the circle, walking around me as he continued to sing while the crowd just cheered and danced to him. I could feel his open hand brush down my hips as he sang, "_And she's got the gift of curves_." I honestly wasn't used to being the center of attention, but I kept my look of security up and just kept smirking at him.

The song slowed just slightly for a moment and he was suddenly close enough for me to feel his breath on my cheek while he continued to sing. "_With skin you'll win_." As the song ended, he looked at me with his green eyes and I felt something in me click. Something felt weird when he looked at me, but I just chalked it up to being in the center of attention. I joined the crowd in applause as he took a deep bow and tossed the microphone back up to the Weird Sisters.

The students slowly regained their positions as the band started on a slow song. I was about to head to the table with my drink, but a hand stopped me as it grabbed my wrist gently. I turned around and saw his green eyes again. He was smirking. "One slow song with the beautiful girl."

I didn't get to respond because he had pulled me close to him and placed my hands around his neck. Looking up at him, I couldn't find anything to talk to him about except his sudden burst of song. "So, what was with the show?" I found myself asking.

He chuckled deeply. "Well, I've always wanted to do that, just never in the right atmosphere for it nor the right girl. I thought since this might be one of the only parties I come to where there aren't parents or adults to restrict us and I had a pretty girl to dance with, I might as well give it a shot."

That struck me as odd, but I smiled to hide it. He sang? Always wanted to? He was braver than I ever gave him credit for, then again, he was a Gryffindor. That was a muggle song, too, if I remember correctly. There was no doubt in my mind now that this was him. There was no reason to worry because no other guy would have done that.

He was a very great dancer. He must have improved greatly from his performance at the Yule Ball three years ago. At the end of the slow song, he dipped me down with a smile. As he pulled me back up and out of the crowd, he asked, "Would you care for another drink?"

Together we walked to the drink table after I said yes. We both were pouring our own drinks and taking a sip out of them when the first scream was heard. Out of curiosity, I glanced around, acting as if I was trying to find the source when I was checking the grandfather clock for the time. It was a little after half past midnight. The plan wasn't supposed to continue to this stage until around one. Looks like he got a little antsy and wanted to speed up tonight.

Suddenly, the windows and the doors to the gardens exploded causing many more people to scream and start running out any available doors. Spells were being casted and a few students were trying to fight back, at least the ones who remembered their wands, but the majority of the students were running away. Glancing at the boy beside me, I decided to break a small rule I set for Lilith and I, and I would get him out of here safely and through the corridors which were blocked off with spells. "Come with me!" I shouted, acting afraid of the happenings that were going on. All he did was nod and allow me to lead him out of the ballroom and up a few flights of stairs.

I could still hear fighting going on as I ran into my bedroom with him. Flicking my wand at the window and causing it to open, I could easily hear Death Eaters who had somehow gotten past my barriers. Damn it. Looking at him, I explained, "We need to get out of here." I accioed my broom over to us and handed it to him. After all, I was safe, he wasn't. He didn't need to die tonight, he needed to live for a little while longer.

He looked down at the broom, to the window, then back to me. "No. You take it. I can handle myself."

I shook my head. "Get out of here. I'll find a way out!" I shoved the broom into his hands and aimed my wand at the door, ready to fire at the Death Eaters who broke my spells.

I heard him shuffle to mount the broom and heard him say, "I'll return it to you."

I sighed. I didn't need that broom back. Why was he still here? "Just go!" I said, firing a silent spell at the first Death Eater to enter. I didn't hear him say anything, just heard the familiar sign of someone kicking off and heading out the large window.

A few more Death Eaters entered and were about to attack before they realized it was me. The one I attacked stood up and snarled at me. "Why did you let him get away?!"

"It's part of the plan." was the explanation I gave to his question.

"Who did she let get away?" asked another one.

I sighed in agitation as the first Death Eater answer. "Him." I could feel the displeasure in all of their stares as I turned to the window. It was all part of the plan they knew little of. I had to let him go.

I had to help Harry Potter escape.


	7. The Letter

A/N: I just wanted to say thank you to those reading this! It has taken a few years for me to get it to where I want it, but hopefully you all are enjoying this!

-Maeve

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Monday morning came around sooner than most wanted. After the Death Eater attack, Hogwarts had been abuzz with shock and worry. Many wondered where a few friends had went after the attack due to the fact of their lack of return to Hogwarts castle Saturday morning. Out of that group of unreturning students, a handful hadn't been heard from by friend nor family. That caused quite a disturbance through the castle even more so than already.

I knew for a fact that a few students from blood traitor families were captured and are now being tortured at an undisclosed location. As for the ones who were half-bloods and mudbloods, well, we never said all the disappeared would remain alive to be tortured. I had to remove a couple bodies from the disaster of a ballroom once the manor and surrounding forest was cleared of any unwanted people. The Death Eaters never cleaned after themselves and it had taken me nearly three hours to locate and remove the seven dead bodies.

It wasn't a fun three hours. Don't get me wrong, I do believe that purebloods are better than half-bloods and mudbloods, but having to get near bodies that were already starting to stink just plain sucked. I had help from the few house elves that my family maintained, but I told them to only clean the wreckage and leave the bodies to me. If they found a body, they were to get me and lead me to the body so that I could dispose of them. By dispose of them, I meant lead them to the center of the garden and light them on fire and scourgify the ashes. The Ministry had no way of finding this manor, my grandmother having protected it from letting any unwanted guests in. The only way in was to be invited or having already been in a previous time. The only way to see it was to be told where it was. I made sure that once the invitations had served their purpose, the location was unreadable and the invitations burned themselves without hurting the people holding them. Even still with the Ministry unable to come in, I wanted to be safe and clean the evidence of dead students.

Out of the seven students, two were Hufflepuffs, two were Ravenclaws, and two were Gryffindors. Only one Slytherin perished at the masquerade and once I recognized who it was, I'm sure it was planned by him. His father was a Death Eater who had accidentally killed another Death Eater during a raid this past summer. This boy's death was surely punishment. He had been a year below me. As for the others, the two Hufflepuffs I didn't recognize, the Ravenclaw girl was a mudblood and the boy I didn't know, and the Gryffindors were both from blood traitor families. The three I knew had been in my year and in a few of my classes. I didn't know any of their names; I didn't bother to learn them.

Lilith had bailed with her friends, going along with allusion of not knowing what was happening, I assumed. I hadn't had the chance to talk to her yet to ask her about her expressions at the masquerade or why she didn't stay after to talk about the progress made in the plan. I wouldn't have time today to do that either. Mondays were my busiest day, followed by Wednesdays. With Defense Against the Dark Arts, Divination, History of Magic, and Potions all before lunch, then Charms, Herbology, Ancient Runes, and Transfiguration before dinner, I only have a few hours before my midnight Astronomy class to do any homework for Tuesday's classes, there would be no way for me to work any time to plan a secret meeting between the two of us and expect her to be on time. She was never on time for our meetings, always busy with the other Slytherins and losing track of time.

I wasn't too worried, though. I had gotten a hold of Harry Potter, so there was really no reason for us to talk, even if her looks towards me at masquerade had made me a bit suspicious. Perhaps it was just because I didn't like being in the center of crowds. Alright, I didn't do it a lot because I wasn't used to it, but there was a bit of a thrill being the focus of everyone's attention every now and then. Only if it was for a good reason, nothing bad. There had been masks so no one knew who I was while Harry was singing to me which made it even better being the center of attention.

As for right now, being it seven in the morning, it was safe to say that no one was the center of anyone's attention. The number of students here at this time were few, but the majority of them were falling asleep in their breakfasts. From the looks of things, only four of us were actually awake enough to eat; Myself, Granger, who sat alone at the Gryffindor table, and Malfoy and Blaise Zabini, who sat down away from me once they arrived, thankfully. I didn't want to start off my morning with Malfoy's annoying voice.

I was starting to bite into my bacon and pancakes when I heard a hooting coming from above. The first shipment of mail owls coming in for the early birds of Hogwarts. I ignored them and went back to eating the strawberry covered pancakes until a light peck at my hand interrupted my thoughts. Turning my head to my left, I saw my eagle owl, Emerald, with a rolled up piece of parchment tied to her held out leg. She hooted again and wiggled her leg out a little more. I went from staring at her to the parchment. Untying it from her leg, I absentmindedly allowed Emerald to eat sausage bits from my palm as I examined it. Once she had her fill and happily hooted as she flew away, I slowly unrolled the paper.

No one knew that Emerald was my owl aside from Lilith and the owner of the store I bought her from. I rarely used Emerald and rarely ever expected her to bring back a reply from anyone I ever had to message. I mainly bought her because I had wanted a pet to bring to Hogwarts and didn't know which kneazle to buy and just randomly bought her. I knew she wouldn't be used for mail much, which is why I originally wanted a kneazle to keep me company in my dorm. I grew attached to Emerald and let her fly whenever and wherever she wanted when I didn't need her. So, I rarely went to the owlry and when I did, I made sure I was alone and unseen.

So how had someone been able to use Emerald? I hadn't sent any mail out since a few nights before the masquerade and when she had returned, she had been empty clawed. Lilith had her own owl that she used much more often than I used Emerald and she wouldn't use anyone else's owl if her life depended on it, so that ruled her out.

Glancing down at the penmanship, I didn't recognize it at all. It read:

_I knew the entire time who you were._

_One Liner_

'One Liner'? Who the hell was that? What kind of pen name was that? Then it hit me.

The song from the masquerade. Harry Potter had known who I was, but how? I must not have done enough with using just the eye color changing spell. I should have used more than that. Hopefully no one else recognized me or noticed my disappearance with Lilith.

But he knew it was me. Harry Potter knew who he was talking to at the party and he still came over. He didn't ever not know like he had pretended. Harry had recognized me through the disguise and wanted to dance and talk with me. That made my job so much easier, but now I wanted to know why he felt the need to seek me out during the ball. That meant he had predetermined his plans for the ball and purposely sought me out. That made me wonder.

As the doors to the Great Hall opened further, I looked up and saw the man who was in my thoughts walk through with his redheaded friend and determined that his reasoning didn't matter now. I needed to be focused on the next phase.

Get Harry Potter to trust me and fall in love with me.

Grabbing my book bag and putting it on my shoulder, I got up and walked out of the Great Hall and started towards Defense Against the Dark Arts. There would be plenty of time to figure out how to get him to fall in love with me at the rate this is going. I wasn't expecting him to initiate contact until at least around Christmas seeing as I am a Slytherin, but this was okay. This was great. The sooner the plan gets going the better. The success of the plan almost distracted me from the fact that I would have to work on a project with Malfoy. Almost.

Unfortunately, as soon as Snape began his teaching was the moment he decided to make us start working together.

"Now, for this project," drawled Snape. "You will be working with your desk partner as I stated last class. If any of you so much as think of hexing your partner, you will lose one hundred and fifty points from your house." He pulled out his wand and flicked towards the chalkboard which began to write on itself the instructions for our project. "Each pair will be researching a specific dark art, artifact, or spell. You will be responsible for teaching the rest of your incompetent classmates," at this, Snape pointedly looked towards Potter and his friend, "the effects, good and bad, of your given topic. I want the creator, the reason why it's dark, and all the ways to detect and defeat it. If you are unable to complete this project by Christmas, then you and your partner will demonstrate the effects of your given topic, if acceptable. If not, then you and your partner will serve the rest of your weekends with either myself or Filch, detentions each day and all day."

To say that half the class cringed would be accurate. The Gryffindor half cringed and some even had a few tears in their eyes. Our half didn't do much but either shrug or smirk. I was part of them that just shrugged. Snape wouldn't take points away from his own house unless he had no choice in front of the headmaster nor would he take away our weekends to be filled with detentions since we are his house. I didn't want to work with Malfoy, but Snape then added that this was for half our grade for the rest of the year and my grades were important to me.

This subject came easy to me and if Malfoy screwed up my grade due to his damned laziness in anything Snape taught, then I would be one witch on a run with my first kill under my wand and Malfoy would cut his life full of money short and quickly.

Snape started walking around the classroom to give out the topics. He was giving them out by way of an upside-down sorcerer's hat with enchanted pieces of paper. One student from each pair would place their hand in and the topic that that particular student knew little about was chosen and floated into their grasp. I turned to Malfoy for the first time this class period to start telling him not to screw anything up when I noticed that he had been looking at me. I gave him a weird look, I didn't like it when people stared for no reason, and was about to tell him to stop staring instead when Snape walked around to us. Malfoy turned his gaze to the hat and put his hand in before I got the chance to. He pulled out a sliver of parchment that read "Dementors," which was odd for a Slytherin, especially the son of a Death Eater, not to know a lot about. Malfoy didn't seemed fazed by it and just shrugged before placing the parchment back in the hat. As I started to write down what I knew about dementors, I heard Malfoy pick up his quill and do the same thing. Good.

Maybe Lilith did talk to him and tell him to actually work or I would curse him and make his ancestors feel the effects.


	8. The Forget-Me-Nots

A week passed and the notes from Potter kept coming once a day. Each only having one line and signed 'One Liner' as if to throw me off his track. The rolled up parchments didn't say much, only a variety of ways to say that he knew who I was. Four ways, to be specific. Tuesday's read, _You're the one with blue eyes, not brown_, Wednesday's was _You're the Slytherin who doesn't interact with others much often,_ Thursday's _Your project in Herbology yesterday was beautiful, just like you,_ and lastly Friday's _You're Amity Woodrow._

I studied the notes on Saturday evening, having finished the school work I had been assigned early. The notes clearly stated that he didn't just have a lucky guess on who I was, but knew for a fact, given he knew my name. I wasn't going to say that that was odd that he knew my name. I wasn't one of the students to just sit back and let Granger answer everything and I was often given praise by Snape while he taught Potions, so knowing my name was completely plausible.

"Amity, did you hear me?"

I jolted out of my thoughts and turned to Daphne, who had been speaking to me about her parents' Christmas ball. It was only a week into November and she was already trying to talk dresses, something she knew that I knew very little about. A few pureblooded families had various winter balls and most pureblooded families were to attend each one.

Unfortunately, the Woodrow family, which is now just me, had been extended an invitation to each one of these balls each year for centuries. Even my mother attended them and had somehow managed to have fun. I honestly didn't mind going to balls, but I just wished there weren't two Christmas balls, a New Year's Eve ball, and a winter ball all right together. That was just overkill to me, but it was the one thing I knew I could uphold to keep my mother happy, even in her death.

I remember a time when I did actually have fun at these, but all those memories ceased to continue once my mother died. She always made them fun for me, since I was just a child. Hell, there was even a time when I had hung out with Parkinson and Malfoy without being completely disgusted by their presences. But, as I stated, those times ended once my mother died. I had changed. Could someone blame me, honestly? A child losing her mother is difficult, but I was in the room as she died and that was devastating.

I pushed those memories back and replied to Daphne, "I'm sorry, Daphne. You lost me at 'we could still find you a date' and then my own thoughts replaced your voice." I took a bite of Shepard's pie that was still warm, though it had been sitting there for at least a half hour.

The blonde beside me sighed. "Honestly, Amity, this is our final year and it's nearly over. You haven't gone on one single date your entire time here!"

I really want to know how the entire dress conversation went from just that to my lack of dating, but all I decided to say was, "It's barely at the halfway point."

Thinking about her words now, it wasn't that I wanted to date. It's just that I honestly don't expect to have a future after I graduate Hogwarts. I might be motherless, but I'm not fatherless, not completely anyway. I know he already has some sort of plans for me and I doubt they involve getting married. Perhaps having a baby to continue the family blood, but I doubt he would ever allow me to pick the man who gets that privilege.

At any costs, I had no time for dating. I needed to succeed in my seduction of Harry Potter. It was crucial to bring him back with his trust broken and his heart damaged. I was the perfect person to do it since I can control my emotions. My heart wasn't easily won and it was surrounded by many walls I built at the death of my mother. No one would be allowed in. I wasn't too fond of Potter, so that made it even easier. He just wasn't my type. But for the sake of the plan, I would act.

"Still, we're young. We're supposed to have fun." Her voice quietened to a whisper. "We all know there's a war coming, but that doesn't mean we can't live right now. In fact, it's all the more reason to."

This time it was my turn to sigh. She had a valid point. "I'll middle. You shut up about getting me a date and I'll go dress shopping with you and have fun."

She looked as if she was considering it, since for the masquerade, she hadn't been allowed to come with me for reasons unknown to her, then she glared at me in a friendly manner. "That's not the middle, but knowing you, that's the best I'll get."

I smirked and took another bite of my food. She knew me very well.

On our way back to the common room, Lilith had intercepted us and asked for me to come along with her to the library about an excuse of needing help with Transfiguration. Daphne nodded and said she'd be in the dorm, waiting for me to get back. Lilith truly did need help in Transfiguration at some points, but this past week had been pretty simple in McGonagall's class. As we walked towards the library, I noted that it must be about the masquerade happenings.

As soon as the thought crossed my mind, we walked past the library and around a few corridors to an empty classroom. I performed the silencing charm around the room when she nodded at me. "When will you learn to carry your wand to dinner?" I asked.

It had always been a bad and annoying habit that whenever Lilith wanted to talk to me, she'd fail to bring her wand with her and make me charm the classroom silent. She smirked at me briefly before cutting to the why she had brought me here. "It seems you have been receiving owls."

She had noticed. That's good. I don't normally receive mail, so it was nice to see she had been paying close enough attention to see the plan in action and that she needn't worry about the plan anymore. "I have been in correspondence with someone, yes."

"But you don't send replies back, so it's a one sided conversation." She had been more perceptive than I thought.

"You're correct. Emerald flies away after every delivery and the notes are never signed with his proper name, so I am not about to give away that I know who he is." It would be good to surprise him with that news without telling him.

I heard her heave an agitated sigh. She turned her back to me as she spoke. "Well, I have some news for you." She quickly turned around and I saw her hand was in her skirt pocket. When she pulled out her hand, it was filled with rolled up parchments that had been worn from being opened so many times, much like the same ones in my very pocket.

Looking at the notes in shock, I took a letter from her hand and slammed it down on a nearby desk. As I did, I was pulling out a note from my own pocket. I rolled them both out and gasped. "Impossible."

Neither letter was signed with the same name. Neither letters' penmanship shared the same stokes or anything. Her letter was signed with a messy, child-like scrawl "Quidditch Prince" whereas my "One Liner" was very neat and practiced.

I plopped down into a chair and leaned back to stare at the ceiling, one hand ranking through my hair while the other held the notes down. How had this happened? What was going on? Quickly, I whipped my head forward and looked at Lilith, who took the chair in front of me on the other side of the desk. "Who were you talking to that night?"

She looked startled by the sudden question, but I could tell she had been expecting it. "I was talking to Harry Potter."

"That can't be." I interrupted before she could say another word. "I was talking to Potter and dancing with him. Remember?" The performance he put on could hardly be forgotten by now.

Lilith's straightened dark hair bounced as she nodded. "I know. I saw that, but you must believe me when I say the man I was talking to couldn't be anyone other than Potter himself. That's why I was so stunned when I saw the little performance he put on with you when he was clearly right next to me."

I rubbed my temples and sighed, trying to figure everything out. I hated being confused and this situation was just that. "Black hair, green eyes?" I quietly questioned to which she nodded.

"Yes. Black hair, slightly messy, with green eyes. Just like he always looks in class."

I couldn't believe what was happening. This was terrible. If he heard about this, we would be dead in no less than a second. The plan that I had thought was going so smoothly was truly not going nearly as well as it had seemed. Two sets of letters with two completely different styles of writings. There is only one Harry Potter, so something was wrong. One of us had the real Potter while the other had a fake. We needed to sort this out before anything gets back to him and we will. I won't let this plan fail.

"Alright. Nothing to worry about." That was a lie. This was a big thing to worry about, but it could easily be fixed. "Just continue talking to him. We'll eventually get them to reveal themselves and the one with Potter continues the plan while the other takes care of whoever else this is." Not the best way, but it was the only way. If Potter had both of us approach him, he'd be suspicious and nothing would work out. At least this way, the plan would work with either of us without him being alerted.

After settling that, Lilith just nodded and I released the charm on the room, done with the conversation. I headed out without another word to or from her, on my way back to the Slytherin common room. Whispering the password, I walked up to my dorm and opened it, finding Daphne alone with the weirdest grin on her face. I don't think I had ever been more scared of Daphne then at that moment when she approached me.

"Shut up about getting you a date, eh?" was the first thing that came out of her mouth.

I looked at her in confusion and replied, "What are you on about, Daph?"

She scoffed and giggled. "Amity, if you already have a date, then why didn't you say something?"

She pointed to my bed and my gaze followed her fingers. I gasped, shocked for a second time tonight. Forget-Me-Nots were covering my entire bed, the pillows, sheets and bedposts alike. On my night stand, there was a few of the tiny flowers covering an envelope and the surrounding area.

There was no way for anyone to really know that I loved Forget-Me-Nots unless they were in my last Herbology class which we had with only the Ravenclaws. In it, Professor Sprout had us transfiguring not only the appearance, but the complete structure of a single grass blade into a flower of our choosing. Thinking on this past Thursday, Potter did have to serve a detention in the Herbology greenhouses, cleaning up the Mandrakes for the second years, with Weasley.

Walking towards it, I slowly picked it up. Upon reading the note, I smiled a little to myself.

_I could never forget you, even if someone Obliviated me._

_One Liner_


	9. The Teasing

The Forget-Me-Nots had me puzzled for a few days. Sunday night, I had brushed the most of them on to the floor and gotten into bed with the note in my hand. Boys were not allowed in the girls' dorms of any house, that much had been made clear plenty of times to students over countless years.

Gryffindors had flattening staircases, sending the boys back down to the dorm. Ravenclaws had the same thing. Hufflepuffs had got shocked back from the hallway that led down to the girls. As for us, well, the Slytherins dorms were located on spiraling staircases leading downwards, as soon as the boys would touch the steps, there would be fire coming out from under them. If they dared to venture forward, the fire would eventually come from below the remaining stairs and back wall, chasing them out. No fire protection charm or water spell would work, as Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and even Blaise had so graciously proven since fifth year.

I had to admit, though, it was funny to watch Malfoy get his hair burnt off when he got too far and Blaise's pants were completely singed off. The two were trailing smoke behind them as they left to the boys' dormitories.

Monday came with nine classes, so I had little time to look into how the flowers were to have appeared on my bed. Once Astronomy ended, all the flowers that had been knocked off my bed and nightstand had been replaced with fresh ones. I, once again, had to push all the flowers off to sleep, only for them to be replaced again after dinner on Tuesday night. That night, I had just not cared anymore and plopped into bed as it was after getting a shower.

Now here I was, sitting in History of Magic with Malfoy behind me and Professor Binns just droning on about some wizarding war in Asia that happened centuries ago. Unfortunately, though, Malfoy wouldn't leave me alone. I could feel him plucking at the flowers that had remained in my hair, and chuckling to himself cruelly. When the class ended and we were going up to turn in our forty-five inch essay from last class, Malfoy ended his silence.

"So, slept outside where you belong, Woodrow?" he chuckled. I ignored him, turning in my rolled parchment to the ghostly professor. When I was at the door, Malfoy spun me around to face him by my shoulders. "It's really disrespectful to not respond." he said, quoting himself from weeks ago and glaring.

I met his eyes with a glare of my own. "I don't need to respond to trash like you."

He snarled a little before pulling himself away from me. I was at least a foot shorter than he was, so he had to bend over just to glare at me at eye level. Without a word, he walked towards his next class, which was Potions that we shared with the rest of the Slytherins. There weren't many of us there, only six, but fewer Ravenclaws and Gryffindors opted for the class, whereas no Hufflepuffs continued the subject in fear of Snape returning to the post. They separated the Slytherins from the other two houses since last year, Crabbe and Goyle decided to ambush a few of the Gryffindors' potions, causing the entire room and its occupants to be covered in soot after a bad explosion.

When I entered Slughorn's class, everyone else was already there. I took my normal seat by Lilith. Blaise and Malfoy were in the back, and Parkinson was sitting beside Daphne. In all honesty, I don't see how Parkinson got through the class, but I'm pretty sure it had something to do with her parents waving money at Slughorn. Crabbe and Goyle weren't allowed to return to Potions are the incident last year and with their troll grades. Slughorn was also there, grinning his usual weird smile.

"Ah, hello, Miss Woodrow! Thank you for joining us. Now we may get started." I rolled my eyes at his greeting. I wasn't late, all of us were early, so he never had to worry about this class. "This period, you will all be working in two groups. This potion will take four weeks to make properly. So, for a month, you will be partnered with the person or persons to create a revival potion."

At this, a few of us looked at him and each other oddly. We had made revival potions before and they don't take nearly that long to brew. The longest had taken us an entire day, but no longer. When he noticed our looks, he chuckled loudly. "Now, you're all wondering what revival potion could possibly take this long to brew? Well, it's a potion that cures most dark spells or potions. Say someone were to be hit with a dark spell and no one knew the counter curse or had that spell's specific remedy, this would fix them up in no time at all!" he laughed even more.

He did realize we were a bunch of Slytherins. This was the wrong class to be teaching this to. Well, for the most part anyways. It would come in helpful if we were to accidentally get hit with a dark spell by a moronic person on our side. Which was completely probable with the likes of Crabbe and Goyle Seniors. I guess it wouldn't be so bad to know how to create.

With a flick of his wand, the chalkboard began to fill up with ingredients and instructions for this potion. Daphne and I were about to go get the ingredients until Slughorn stopped us. "Wait just a minute. I'm not going to allow you all to choose your own partners for this particular potion. Mister Zabini, Miss Greengrass, you two together, and Miss Eldrid, work with Miss Parkinson. That leaves Mister Malfoy with Miss Woodrow." he announced before going behind his desk with a smile on his face. "It's not much of a challenge if you work with the same person you work with all year last year." He looked over at me and chuckled a little more. "And it seems as if Miss Woodrow has brought in her own stash of Forget-Me-Nots, perfect for this potion, as you will need a lot of those delightful blue petals throughout this next month."

I glared at Slughorn and walked over to Malfoy. I saw Blaise's apologetic look as he passed me. He knew I hated Malfoy and working with him. Daphne and Lilith send me the same look when I sat down at the station. Parkinson was just glaring at me. It was no secret that she was madly in love with Malfoy and disliked any girl who worked with her man. Malfoy came back from the supplies cabinet, but with a missing ingredient and I returned his snarl from early when I saw what the missing ingredient was.

Malfoy's hand pulled out a flower from my hair. Smirking, he said, "Aren't you just prepared for class?"

* * *

The rest of the week went by like that. I had no choice but to endure Malfoy's teasing because no matter how many times I brushed the flowers off and they would reappear the next night. Even when I showered in the morning to get rid of the flowers, they just reappeared in my hair, as well. It was simple as to why they wouldn't go away. Potter must have casted a charm on the tiny flowers.

As for how they originally got in my dorm in the first place, I figured that Potter must had also paid a younger Slytherin girl to place them in the room. First years were easily manipulated, you just had to figure out with what, and money was definitely a Slytherin's best manipulative tool. Even though the majority of us had money to spare for generations to come, many Slytherins didn't mind getting more on the side.

The one lined letters still came each morning, too. Potter would write about the flowers now, but that's all. One letter said, _Expect more soon_ with the normal signature at the bottom. I didn't know what to expect more of, but I had to go with it. Potter had to think that he was winning me over without me knowing who he was.

* * *

**xXMizz Alec VolturiXx** Thank you! I try to make it interesting without giving too much away. The story will pick up soon. This was just a filler chapter, really.


	10. The Mistake

"What do you mean it isn't Harry Potter?!"

This was not a great way to start off the day. I hadn't even had breakfast yet and the world already seemed to want to go against me even more so than it already was. I purposely woke up early today so that I could try out my new idea on trying to return a message to Potter so that we could proceed to the next step, which was two-way communication. I had headed up to the owlry around six thirty this morning and given a message to Emerald. I would sit down in the Great Hall the rest of breakfast and see watch Potter receive her, pretending to not notice. Hopefully then, he would confess in a private manner that it was indeed him and we could get on with a fake relationship that would seem real to him. Of course, when he trusted me, I would lead him away and then he would have Potter. Simple as that.

But, unfortunately, Lilith had other plans. She had grabbed me when I was on the way down to the Great Hall, dragging me into an unused classroom and announced she wasn't in contact with Potter, which led to my outburst. I watched her reaction to my own reaction to her news. She looked a bit frightened. She should be. We both should be. If word got back to him that we hadn't had a confirmed match and wasted a month on this, he would kill us both.

I calmed down after a while. We did have a confirmed match. I was in contact with Harry Potter. There was nothing to worry about. Nothing. Sighing, I glanced towards the door. "It's okay. We knew one of us wasn't talking to him and I had a feeling it was you." Walking to the exit, I put my hand on the handle. "Now we know who has to go through this." Out of curiosity, I asked, "How did you find out?"

Even in the dark, I could see Lilith start to blush. I raised an eyebrow, awaiting her answer. "Well, I just found out. I saw him writing in class and recognized the messy writing."

"Who?"

"No one. I took care of it." Leaving it at that, I walked out of the room. I instantly wished I had forced Lilith out first.

"Taken to secret meetings early in the morning, Woodrow?" Oh Merlin, I could practically hear the smirk in his smug voice. "Who's your secret lover?"

I went on my way to the Great Hall, but Malfoy didn't let up. "Oh now, come on. Be a little fun for once. We do have to work together still." His chuckle annoyed me so much.

I hated dealing with him outside of class. Hell, I hated dealing with him in class. Unfortunately, though, he was right. The potion was only in its third week of brewing. The damned research paper was nearly done yet since Snape decided to add on to the requirements that the presentation must last at least ten minutes. It didn't help that Malfoy and I weren't working on it outside of the class. I refused to.

"Draco, leave her alone. She already has to suffer your crap in class." I felt a feminine arm loop its way through one of my own. I turned my head to meet Daphne's grin. She was saving me and she knew it. "Come on. We have to talk about this guy who's been leaving you messages."

She was the only person aside from Lilith who knew about this. The girls in the dorm could only guess why my bed was constantly covered with the blue flowers. As for the letters, they came a bit more often now, at least once every other day. I hadn't told her I knew it was Potter because there was no reason for her to find out about the plan. I wasn't going to risk her life, since she was a true friend. Lilith had been volunteered as I was, so there was nothing I could do for her. But Daphne didn't need to risk anything. With the war coming up, she would be safely tucked away with her parents behind Death Eater lines.

Interrupting my train of thought was the blond boy who just didn't seem to take a hint. "A guy's been leaving messages for Woodrow? Poor bloke must have been hexed one too many times in Charms class." Malfoy scoffed then laughed. I heard another laugh join his which meant Blaise had joined.

"Now, Draco, I don't think it's too far of a cry. She's a beautiful pureblood with money. Not too bad of a catch." Blaise smirked, taking my other arm.

Malfoy just scoffed again. "Please. A short, hot-tempered nobody? The bloke's incredibly insane."

What was this morning? Did I miss the memo where it was make Amity's day bad? Couldn't people just leave me alone? I didn't mind Daphne. Blaise I could handle. Malfoy could just sod off, though. Honestly.

"Draco, go away if you hate her so much." Daphne pulled me away as we entered the Great Hall. I silently thanked her, but sighed to myself now that it settled in my mind that Malfoy and Blaise knew about the letters.

* * *

The rest of the day went by like normal. Unfortunately, each time the owls came, Emerald was nowhere to be seen. Aside from that, nothing abnormal happened. Malfoy and I ignored each other for the most part in Defense as well as in History. He bugged me about the Forget-Me-Nots that had become a permanent fixture of my hair now, placing a few into the potion. The classes we shared that led up to dinner was normal. Daphne proceeded to take my attention all night before Astronomy started at midnight. She wanted to find out who the man was and I had to pretend like I was truly interested in that.

As soon as Astronomy was over at one, she and I were walking down the tower and headed back to the dorm when Emerald decided to finally make an appearance. She landed on the staircase railing and held out her leg. The rolled up parchment was there, but it wasn't the same one I had tied to her earlier that morning. Untying it, she flew away before I had the chance to even pet her. Daphne squealed and jumped for joy, quite literally.

"Oh my Merlin! Amity, look! Another letter! Open it now!"

I knew if I hadn't had opened it then, she would have easily made me deaf with pleads the rest of the way down to the dorms. We were only on the sixth floor. I wasn't willing to lose my hearing.

_I was wondering when you were going to try that._

_One Liner_

"You tried what?" Of course she was reading over my shoulder. In all honesty, I saw that coming. She wouldn't be Daphne Greengrass if she wasn't nosey and invading someone's personal space.

Shrugging, I replied, "I tried to use Emerald to send a message to him this morning. I didn't see her deliver it, though."

Squealing again, the other blonde grinned. "What'd you say?!"

Continuing my way down the stairs, I sighed. "All I asked was if we could meet up somewhere." Which was completely true. If he was using one lines, so would I. I wanted to see if Potter was willing to show his face to me one on one. But somehow he had seen this coming. He had known that I was going to try to figure him out. I bet that mudblood was helping him. Damn.

I listened to Daphne drone on about dates and such, not really paying attention. She didn't really regain my full focus until she decided to let out another blood curdling squeal. Pulling me back into reality, I glanced around and noticed we were back in our dorm. Her scream had awoken Parkinson, Lilith, and Bulstrode, whom we have shared the dorm with for years.

I looked at Daphne and watched her run over to my bed. Upon seeing what she saw, my eyes widened. The other girls sighed and Parkinson was the only one who spoke up out of those three. "Woodrow, if you can't control the damned surprises left for you, stop Daphne from screaming. Some of us want our beauty sleep."

"You need more than beauty sleep, Parkinson." I couldn't help it. I was tired, too, and now there were more than flowers on my bed. There was a gift on my bed that I knew I would have to open, otherwise Daphne would rip it open herself as I slept and wake me up before I had the chance to sleep properly.

Apparently Parkinson had ignored my response and fallen back to sleep, along with the other two. Daphne held up my present and gave me a look that could rival a child on Christmas. Sighing for the umpteenth time today, I walked over, sat down beside her on my bed, and began to unwrap the box. As I slipped the lid off, I saw a note on top of a blank sheet of parchment, bottled black ink, and a brand new peacock quill. I picked up the note and read it.

_I was saving these for Christmas. I hope you enjoy them. Try out the parchment. It's enchanted so that only you and I can write on it. I have my own. I could tell you've been dying to talk to me. The ink will disappear as soon as the other reads it. You can use any ink or any quill, but I thought you could use some more since we'll be talking a lot, I presume._

It wasn't signed, but it was quite obvious that it was from Potter. The same penmanship was used. Daphne noted that, too. She was even more excited now that she confirmed that the gift was from the note man. I couldn't help but to smile at her reaction. Daphne might have been a Slytherin, but she was a hopeless romantic and I thought that was great. I wish I could have been like her sometimes, but I'm not as free as she was.

She quietly smiled and said we'd talk in the morning about this before she went to her own bed. I placed the lid back on the box and slid it under my bed. I would test it in the morning to satisfy Daphne's overgrowing curiosity. As well as my own.


End file.
